Tricky Photo

So sometimes I get an idea that comes with an unexpected problem. I had one of those this week with a new sculpted tin that I made and needed to photograph. I decided to make a deep sea themed mini-tin (covered an altoid smalls tin) with bioluminescent squid and jellyfish. That part was easy, I have some glow in the dark polymer clay that I mixed with translucent clay and a little bit of blue. I also layered some pure glow int eh dark clay under the transluscent mix so it would glow even more intensely. It all worked beautifully and I absolutely love hoe the tin turned out.

This is where the problem then turned up. How do I photograph something that glows in the dark? I first took the regular lighting photos then turned off the lights and started experimenting with different exposure times after making sure the clay was glowing as strongly as possible. I was able to pick up the glow okay but with the glowing pieces floating in blackness it didn't quite look right. I needed just a little bit of light to make the whole tin visible but being a long exposure (5 seconds) it had to be a really small amount of light or the image was going to be lighted too much.

My eventual solution was a small LED headlamp that I have placed on the far edge of my desk pointing at a 90 degree angle from the light tent. This tiny amount of light was just enough to make the edges of the tin and blue backdrop visible.

I'm a Model

Took a bunch of photos today modeling my jewelry. I like how they turned out.

Starting a Fan Page

I've set up a brand new page on the website all for fans of Noadi's Art. Right now it's sad and empty so if you've bought anything from me get a picture of yourself modeling with your Noadi's Art treasures and send them to me. If you also want a link back to your site, blog, or twitter make sure to include that as well.

Rainbow and Sculpey Ultralight

So yesterday was one of those days when the weather just can't make up it's mind. It switched off and on between light rainshowers and sunshine. Now that's a perfect recipe for a rainbow and about 8 o-clock PM (yes, I am far enough north that the sun is still up at 8pm this time of year) I caught this one. I've tried taking photos of rainbows before usually without success but these photos came out quite nicely.

Now to something about sculpting. A few weeks ago I picked up a package of sculpey ultralight to try out for making armatures. There are just times when aluminum foil isn't the best choice for an armature. For example sometimes the foil can show through when using translucent clay, like on my cuttlefish pendants and permapets. I decided that for large armatures that what would probably work best is still to use aluminum foil and maybe cover it with ultralight when using transluscent clays (I wouldn't bother with opaque clays like my gray super sculpey mix unless I really needed to cut down on weight). I just realize one very useful benefit of this clay as an armature tonight, I can draw guide lines on it.

The downside of ultralight is that it's a little chalky and not as strong as other armature materials like axpoxie sculpt so I wouldn't use it to support weight, only for bulking out so I may not use if much for really large pieces. For things like my cuttlefish earrings where weight is a big consideration for the wearer's comfort it's perfect.

Article on Photographing Jewelry

I just had this article published with Associated Content, I wrote about the best ways I've found to photograph my handmade jewelry. I hope you find it useful.

Tips for Photographing Your Handmade Jewelry

Learn how to take beautiful photos of your jewelry creations to use when selling online or just to show them off on your website.